Unfortunately the GGI2020 conference in Dublin has been cancelled due to the ongoing problems with COVID. The conference was due to run on Oct 17-18, 2020 but due to COVID restrictions, this is no longer possible.
However, the past 6 months has seen an explosion in online webinars and conferences and the word ZOOM has now acquired an entirely different additional meaning. Moves are afoot to try to have GGI2021 as a virtual conference some time next year. Further details will be released in due course.
In the meantime, you can enjoy presentations from previous years of GGI. You will find details of every single presentation on our Speaker Profiles page starting with GGI2020 Belfast and going all the way back to GGI2013 Dublin (10 conferences in total). Many of these presentations were recorded and you can watch them on our YouTube Channel and our dedicated page on Legacy FamilyTreeWebinars.
Some of the most popular videos are included below. Just click on them to view.
Origins of the Irish
Prof James P Mallory
Professor Jim Mallory's talk from 2018 in Belfast is the most popular of the GGI videos with over 42,000 views. This is an excellent talk and Prof Mallory's wit and intellect shine brightly throughout. His comments about his chapter on DNA in his book of the same name are particularly amusing and insightful. New DNA evidence from ancient remains is causing major reworking of previous theories about who are the Irish and how did they get there. This is a must see!
Viking DNA in Ireland. Do you have some and where did it come from?
Peter Sjölund
Peter Sjölund is one of Sweden's foremost genetic genealogists and his talk at GGI2016 struck a chord with the Irish audience (commanding over 31,000 views). Everyone in Ireland is fascinated by the Vikings and want to know if they have inherited any Viking DNA. Peter discusses recent advances in the understanding of Scandinavian DNA which has allowed us to trace the DNA of the Vikings back to different parts of Scandinavia and all the way back to when people first colonised Scandinavia at the end of the Ice Age. If you suspect you are a Viking, this is for you.
DNA vs the Irish Annals
Brad Larkin
Back in 2014, Brad Larkin gave his first talk on how DNA is helping our understanding of Irish Clan system, as described in the Irish Annals and the Traditional Genealogies (some of which are the oldest in Europe and stretch back over 2000 years). Brad gave a follow-up talk in Belfast at GGI2018. Irish Clan research has received a lot of renewed interest in recent years, helped by the plethora of Irish surname projects at FTDNA together with major advances in the study of ancient Irish DNA (Prof Dan Bradley & Lara Cassidy of Trinity College Dublin have been regular speakers at the conference). We can expect increased cross-fertilisation between ancient DNA and citizen science over the course of the next few years and Irish Clan research promises to be a popular topic for the foreseeable future. Between his two presentations, Brad has garnered more than 33,000 views.
